"Schrefer, a well-deserving two-time National Book Award finalist, approaches the conundrums and difficulties of our relationship with apes with sensitivity and finesse... enthralling, fast-paced, adventurous and deeply touching."

--Sara Gruen, The New York Times Book Review

 

They grew up together. 

 

Now they have to escape together.

 

Raja has been raised in captivity. Not behind the bars of a zoo, but within the confines of an American home. He was stolen when he was young to be someone’s pet. Now he’s grown up . . . and is about to be sent away again, to a place from which there will be no return.

 

John grew up with Raja. The orangutan was his friend, his brother — never his pet. But when John’s parents split up and he moved across the country, he left Raja behind. Now Raja is in danger.

 

There’s one last chance to save Raja — a chance that will force John to confront his fractured family and the captivity he’s imposed on himself all of these years.

 

Eliot Schrefer’s last two novels, Endangered and Threatened, were both finalists for the National Book Award. With Rescued, he brings his remarkable storytelling to the American landscape, giving us a boy who must redefine his own humanity and an orangutan who will need his help in order to return home.

 

 

A Junior Library Guild selection.